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Star Trek doesn’t care about the fans anymore. At least its current makers don’t, judging by some firebreathing remarks Star Trek Into Darkness co-writer Roberto Orci made in the comments section of a TrekMovie.com article. He basically told Trekkies critical of his film to “F**K OFF!” (Yes, it was all caps.) The article that got Orci worked up to Khan-level wrath was titled “Star Trek Is Broken: Here’s How To Fix It,” meaning that the headline alone ticked him off. “I think the article above is akin to a child acting out against his parents,” Orci said. “Makes it tough for some to listen, but since I am a loving parent, I read these comments without anger or resentment, no matter how misguided. Having said that, two biggest Star Treks in a row with best reviews is hardly a description of 'broken.' And frankly, your tone and attidude [sic] make it hard for me to listen to what might otherwise be decent notions to pursue in the future. As I love to say, there is a reason why I get to write the movies, and you don’t.”
So in this scenario Orci is the parent and the disgruntled fan is the child. But what parent goes on to say what Orci did in a follow-up comment to another fan? “You lose credibility big time when you don’t honestly engage with the F***ING WRITER OF THE MOVIE ASKING YOU AN HONEST QUESTION. You prove the cliche of s***ty fans. And rude in the process. So, as Simon Pegg would say: F**K OFF!” Maybe that’s the parent of Go the F**K to Sleep saying that. But it sure isn’t appropriate, and there’s an inherent flaw in Orci’s rant (I won’t say argument, because his ramblings aren’t coherent enough to be called an argument). He suggests that there’s a gulf between filmmaker and fan that can’t be crossed — “There is a reason why I get to write the movies, and you don’t” — and yet he’s trolling TrekMovie.com message boards to lash out against his anonymous critics, whose barbs really must hurt him deeply, even despite the box office numbers and critical raves for Star Trek Into Darkness that he cites.
Who’s really the child?
No work of art will be universally adored. Ever. Plenty of philistines have even called Citizen Kane “boring,” and I can’t begin to tell you all the people I’ve encountered who find The Godfather “slow.” (“Why is this wedding lasting so long?”) The thing is, you can’t win ‘em all. Can you imagine if every writer or director lashed out against his naysayers the way Orci did? Imagine if George Lucas, whose Star Wars prequels have become the pop culture dead horse fans must beat unto eternity, lashed out in this way. It might even be understandable if he did. If Lucas has criticized anyone, though, it’s professional critics, people who are paid to give their opinions and take heat for them — never the “s***ty fans,” as Orci would call the rabble.
Paramount Pictures
Forget the idea of Star Trek itself being broken. That’s up for debate. Yes, we concur with the Trekkies who recently voted Star Trek Into Darkness the worst Trek movie ever (here are 12 reasons we agree). But it’s the link between the franchise and its fans that is truly broken. That “there is a reason why I get to write the movies, and you don’t” line shows Orci’s profound lack of understanding of Trek’s relationship to its fandom. For years, under the auspices of producer Michael Piller’s open door policy, fans could submit spec scripts for The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. And not only did the producers read them, several of them got made. Battlestar Galactica reboot co-creator Ronald D. Moore launched his career by getting a TNG episode he wrote on spec, “The Bonding,” produced. That led to him getting a staff job on the show, the opportunity to write more scripts, and eventually the chance to be a producer on Deep Space Nine. One of the very best episodes of TNG period, “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” a story so good Trek honcho Rick Berman says he wishes he’d saved it to turn into a big-screen movie, was submitted on spec by a fan.
This tradition of fan-submitted spec scripts goes back to The Original Series. There’s a reason why Mad Men’s Paul Kinsey thought he could submit a story idea to the show: because the makers of Star Trek listened to the fans. And no wonder. It was the fans who got The Original Series a third season, after intense letter writing campaigns, when NBC was ready to pull the plug. That symbiotic relationship between maker and fan was unique in pop culture and symbolic of the democratic, “let the best idea win the day” ethos embodied by Kirk, Spock, and the Federation itself. The makers of Star Trek lived what they preached. If Star Trek still existed where it should really live, television, I’d like to think it would be possible for Breaking Bad’s Badger to submit his pie-eating contest idea.
That is no longer the case. Now the writers of Star Trek are a class apart existing in a paternalistic relationship with their “child”-like fans who, like drinking milk from a bottle, should be content and happy with whatever Star Trek they’re given. Even if it’s mindless nonsense like Into Darkness that barely even resembles a Star Trek movie. Oh, and Orci will probably go on to point out the many references in that movie to Trek of old, like Section 31 or the Enterprise NX-01 model sitting on a desk. But if the spirit of Trek isn’t there, if Roddenberry’s exploratory ideals and social commentary are replaced two movies in a row with tired revenge narratives, then they’re not going to be happy. Recreating a classic scene from a 30-year-old movie, the way Into Darkness restages Spock’s death with the roles reversed, will only make us wish we were watching that movie instead. Somewhere Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, and J.J. Abrams forgot that Star Trek is about looking forward, not looking back.
What’s so odd about the direction they’ve taken the Trek franchise is that, while other media makers like Marvel Studios have come to embrace the geeky richness of their oeuvre, realizing that all pop culture today is niche culture, Abrams, Orci &amp; Co. want to turn Trek into a sex-and-explosion-filled action franchise for a mass-market, “mainstream” culture that no longer exists. They can’t think of anything more imaginative than creating a carbon copy of a beloved villain from decades ago and putting Alice Eve in a bikini, while Marvel Studios is like, “Hey, let’s get Bradley Cooper to voice a machine gun-toting raccoon and Vin Diesel to play a talking tree.” If Marvel fans can get excited about that, the people who go see a Star Trek movie will be able to handle Uhura talking about more than her relationship problems. Maybe they’ll get a few more Trek movies produced with the current running-and-jumping formula, but it’s not sustainable if they lose Trekkies in the process: the people who will buy tickets to see the movie multiple times and plunk down their pay for tie-in merchandise.
What’s funny about this also is that, in telling the fans “F**K YOU!” Orci cites Simon Pegg, who for years criticized George Lucas and the Star Wars prequels. In his Twitter rants and on his TV show Spaced, Pegg launched every kind of barb imaginable at those movies from the perspective of an angry, passionate fan. You could disagree with his argument, but at least he cared. And you know what? Lucasfilm hired him to voice Dengar on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. They didn’t hold a grudge. They didn’t say “F**K YOU!” George Lucas actually listened. What happens when the tables are turned and Pegg’s a part of a movie, Star Trek Into Darkness, that some revile? He can’t take it. People like Pegg and Orci act like they’re all about the fans, and that they are fans themselves. Maybe they were once. But they’re the suits now. And finally, they know a fraction of what George Lucas has been dealing with all these years. The question is, like Lucas will they listen?
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More: Trekkies Vote ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ the Worst ‘Trek’ Film Ever: 12 Reasons They’re Right A ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Fan Review: Your ‘Star Wars’ Prequel Anger Is What I Feel Now ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Burning Questions: Khan’s Magic Blood, Evil Admirals, &amp; More
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Ever since Bridesmaids earned Kristen Wiig a place in the heart of anyone with a funnybone in 2011, we've all been waiting to see what she'd do next. Sure, she was a part of the ensemble comedy Friends With Kids, but the real test of her mettle would be a solo vehicle. That film has now arrived, and it's bound to be monumentally disappointing to her fans.
Girl Most Likely is an elaborate frame for Wiig's studied awkwardness — her long pauses, her almost muttered delivery of dialogue — that, unlike Bridesmaids, is content to turn every character other than Wiig's into a cartoon. That it comes from directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, whose 2003 triumph American Splendor brims with a generosity of spirit undetectable in Girl Most Likely, is all the more dispiriting.
Imogene (Wiig) is a failed playwright who moves from dead-end job to dead-end job while pursuing her dream in Manhattan. All that sustains her are elaborate fantasies of winning a Tony Award, the fact that she was once listed among New York Magazine's "10 Playwrights to Watch," plus her Dutch boyfriend and a coterie of airkissing, one-shoulder-gown-wearing social climber friends. But after her mate dumps her, she fakes an attempt on her life as a cry for help — at least she knows she's still got some writing chops because everyone sure found her suicide note convincing.
Imogene's remanded to the custody of her louche mother (Annette Bening) in Ocean City, New Jersey. There, against her will, she reconnects with her roots. The problem is that Berman, Pulcini, and screenwriter Michelle Morgan don't seem as interested in establishing a "home is where the heart is" vision of Jersey as a place of acceptance and authenticity as they are in smugly reducing the Garden State to clichés we've seen a million times before: Imogene's brother Ralph (Christopher Fitzgerald) is in love with a woman who sells glitter on the boardwalk! '90s revue shows featuring Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys impersonators are the height of culture! Everybody gambles! The only thing missing is a recitation of the GTL credo.
Imogene and Ralph are characters deeply damaged by life, but their traumas are treated as lightly as waterside cotton candy. We're left to regard each of them as a mass of quirks rather than as human beings. Even the usually sublime Bening is a cardboard cutout. She could play this character in her sleep, as could Matt Dillon as a "CIA Agent" with the codename George Bouche (sound it out!) as her boyfriend.
Where Bridesmaids felt so fresh in every scene — especially in its depiction of female friendship — Girl Most Likely falls back on threadbare tropes over and over. In addition to that scene of Imogene fantasizing about winning a Tony Award, we’ve got a "wild party!" montage of her doing shots and dancing crazy with her mom's tenant Darren Criss.
Worse still, Berman and Pulcini, who masterfully reconstructed the process of writing in American Splendor, now seem to have no affinity for how a writer, like Imogene, would actually live and work. She only seems to bring pen to page or fingers to keyboard off-camera, and that makes the finale (which we won't reveal here) feel all the more unearned.
We will say this, though: sometimes being the bridesmaid is better than being the bride.
1/5
What do you think? Tell Christian Blauvelt directly on Twitter @Ctblauvelt and read more of his reviews on Rotten Tomatoes!
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Theatrics slapstick and cheer are cinematic qualities you rarely find outside the realm of animation. Disney perfected it with their pantheon of cartoon classics mixing music humor spectacle and light-hearted drama that swept up children while still capturing the imaginations and hearts of their parents. But these days even reinterpretations of fairy tales get the gritty make-over leaving little room for silliness and unfiltered glee. Emerging through that dark cloud is Mirror Mirror a film that achieves every bit of imagination crafted by its two-dimensional predecessors and then some. Under the eye of master visualist Tarsem Singh (The Fall Immortals) Mirror Mirror's heightened realism imbues it with the power to pull off anything — and the movie never skimps on the anything.
Like its animated counterparts Mirror Mirror stays faithful to its source material but twists it just enough to feel unique. When Snow White (Lily Collins) was a little girl her father the King ventured into a nearby dark forest to do battle with an evil creature and was never seen or heard from again. The kingdom was inherited by The Queen (Julia Roberts) Snow's evil stepmother and the fair-skinned beauty lived locked up in the castle until her 18th birthday. Grown up and tired of her wicked parental substitute White sneaks out of the castle to the village for the first time. There she witnesses the economic horrors The Queen has imposed upon the people of her land all to fuel her expensive beautification. Along the way Snow also meets Prince Alcott (Armie Hammer) who is suffering from his own money troubles — mainly being robbed by a band of stilt-wearing dwarves. When the Queen catches wind of the secret excursion she casts Snow out of the castle to be murdered by her assistant Brighton (Nathan Lane).
Fairy tales take flack for rejecting the idea of women being capable but even with its flighty presentation and dedication to the old school Disney method Mirror Mirror empowers its Snow White in a genuine way thanks to Collins' snappy charming performance. After being set free by Brighton Snow crosses paths with the thieving dwarves and quickly takes a role on their pilfering team (which she helps turn in to a Robin Hooding business). Tarsem wisely mines a spectrum of personalities out of the seven dwarves instead of simply playing them for one note comedy. Sure there's plenty of slapstick and pun humor (purposefully and wonderfully corny) but each member of the septet stands out as a warm compassionate companion to Snow even in the fantasy world.
Mirror Mirror is richly designed and executed in true Tarsem-fashion with breathtaking costumes (everything from ball gowns to the dwarf expando-stilts to ridiculous pirate ship hats with working canons) whimsical sets and a pitch-perfect score by Disney-mainstay Alan Menken. The world is a storybook and even its monsters look like illustrations rather than photo-real creations. But what makes it all click is the actors. Collins holds her own against the legendary Julia Roberts who relishes in the fun she's having playing someone despicable. She delivers every word with playful bite and her rapport with Lane is off-the-wall fun. Armie Hammer riffs on his own Prince Charming physique as Alcott. The only real misgiving of the film is the undercooked relationship between him and Snow. We know they'll get together but the journey's half the fun and Mirror Mirror serves that portion undercooked.
Children will swoon for Mirror Mirror but there's plenty here for adults — dialogue peppered with sharp wisecracks and a visual style ripped from an elegant tapestry. The movie wears its heart on its sleeve and rarely do we get a picture where both the heart and the sleeve feel truly magical.
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Enigmatic and deliberate Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy makes no reservations while unraveling its heady spy story for better or worse. The film based on the bestselling novel by John Le Carre is purposefully perplexing effectively mirroring the central character George Smiley's (Gary Oldman) own mind-bending investigation of the British MI6's mole problem. But the slow burn pacing clinical shooting style and air of intrigue only go so far—Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sports an incredible cast that can't dramatically translate the movie's impenetrable narrative. Almost from the get go the movie collapses under its own weight.
After a botched mission in Hungary that saw his colleague Jim (Mark Strong) gunned down in the streets Smiley and his boss Control (John Hurt) are released from the "Circus" (codename for England's Secret Intelligence Service). But soon after Smiley is brought back on board as an impartial observer tasked to uncover the possible infiltration of the organization. The former agent already dealing with the crippling of his own marriage attempts to sift through the history and current goings on of the Circus narrowing his hunt down to four colleagues: Percy aka "Tinker" (Toby Jones) Bill aka "Tailor" (Colin Firth) Roy aka "Soldier" (Ciaran Hinds) and Toy aka "Poor Man" (David Dencik). Working with Peter (Benedict Cumberbatch) a conflicted younger member of the service and Ricki (Tom Hardy) a rogue agent who has information of his own Smiley slowly uncovers the muddled truth—occasionally breaking in to his own work place and crossing his own friends to do so.
Describing Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as dense doesn't seem complicated enough. The first hour of the monster mystery moves at a sloth's pace trickling out information like the tedious drips of a leaky faucet. The talent on display is undeniable but the characters Smiley included are so cold that a connection can never be made. TTSS sporadically jumps around from past to present timelines without any indication: a tactic that proves especially confusing when scenes play out in reoccurring locations. It's not until halfway through that the movie decides to kick into high gear Smiley's search for a culprit finally becoming clear enough to thrill. A film that takes its time is one thing but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy does so without any edge or hook.
What the movie lacks in coherency it makes up for in style and thespian gravitas. Director Tomas Alfredson has assembled some of the finest British performers working today and they turn the script's inaccessible spy jargon into poetry. Firth stands out as the group's suave slimeball a departure from his usual nice guy roles. Hardy assures us he's the next big thing once again as the agency's resident moppet a lover who breaks down after a romantic fling uncovers horrifying truth. Oldman is given the most difficult task of the bunch turning the reserved contemplative Smiley into a real human. He half succeeds—his observational slant in the beginning feels like an extension of the movie's bigger problems but once gets going in the second half of the film he's quite a bit of fun.
Alfredson constructs Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy like a cinematic architect each frame dripping with perfectly kitschy '70s production design and camera angles that make the spine tingle. He creates paranoia through framing similar to the Coppola's terrifying The Conversation but unlike that film TTSS doesn't have the characters or story to match. The movie strives to withhold information and succeeds—too much so. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy wants us to solve a mystery with George Smiley but it never clues us in to exactly why we should want to.

When crafting a follow-up to the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time it’s understandable that one might be reticent to mess with a winning formula. But director Todd Phillips and writers Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong seem to have confused revisiting with recycling: The Hangover Part II so closely mirrors its blockbuster predecessor in every vital aspect that it can scarcely claim the right to call itself a sequel.
The only significant new wrinkle introduced in Part II is its setting: Bangkok Thailand a location that at least theoretically augurs well for a second helping of inspired lunacy. The story structure of the first film has been copied wholesale a game of Mad Libs played with its script. The action is again set around a bachelor party this time in honor of buttoned-down dentist Stu (Ed Helms). Again the boys (Stu Bradley Cooper’s boorish frat boy Phil and Zach Galifianakis’ moronic man-child Alan) awaken the next day in a hideously debauched hotel room with little memory of the previous night’s revelry. And again there is a missing companion: Teddy (Mason Lee son of Ang) the brother-in-law to be. (Poor Justin Bartha is once again relegated to the sidelines popping up now and then to push the plot forward via cell phone.)
The amnesiac/investigative angle of the first Hangover made for a refreshing twist on the contemporary men-behaving-badly comedy. Repeated here its effect is arguably the opposite: Too often the action feels rote and formulaic. Gone is any hint of surprise an aspect so crucial to good comedy and a huge part of the first film’s appeal. Key comic set pieces – a tussle with monks at a Buddhist temple a visit to a transsexual brothel a car chase involving a drug-dealing monkey – reveal themselves to be merely variations of memorable bits from the first film.
Tonally Part II is darker cruder and a bit nastier than its predecessor. Female characters never a priority in the first film are further marginalized in the sequel. (The only woman with significant dialogue a Bangkok prostitute also happens to have a penis. I’ll let you ponder the implications of that one.) The three leads Helms Cooper and Galifianakis still work well together and despite the inferior material enough of their chemistry remains to make the proceedings bearable – and occasionally funny. But their characters feel somehow degraded reduced to coarse caricatures of their former selves. Speaking of caricature Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) the fey faux-gangsta villain of the first film returns in an expanded capacity in the sequel his garbled hip-hop slang more gratuitous – and more grating – than before.
I can’t help but wonder what might have been if a planned cameo by Mel Gibson playing a tattoo artist hadn’t been scrapped reportedly due to objections by Galifianakis. Liam Neeson Gibson’s replacement apparently proved ineffectual in his first go-round and when he wasn't available for re-shoots his scene was eventually shot with Nick Cassavetes in the role. In its existing incarnation the scene is purely functional a chunk of forgettable exposition. The presence of Gibson an actor of not inconsiderable comic talent would have at least added an air of unpredictability something the scene – and indeed the movie – sorely lacks.

Forget Black Swan – Natalie Portman’s real crowning performance is to be found in the romantic comedy No Strings Attached in which director Ivan Reitman asks her to convey sincere unqualified affection for Ashton Kutcher. Portman much to her credit gamely complies and though she may not have the emaciated figure bloody nails and bandaged ankles to tell of her labors the psychic scars must no doubt be just as severe.
Exhibiting strong chick-flick leanings and a rambunctious soft-R comic tone (i.e. lots of F-bombs some menstrual humor and a few shots of Kutcher’s naked ass) No Strings Attached is built around a basic relationship role-reversal: The dude Adam (Kutcher) longs for a deeper lasting commitment; the chick Emma (Portman) insists on keeping matters purely physical. Emma’s motive is a practical one: As a doctor-to-be her busy residency schedule with its 80-hour work weeks and intensive exam preparations precludes a serious relationship. But alas a woman has certain needs (foreplay apparently not being among them) and who better to fulfill them than Kutcher’s non-threatening boy-toy?
Thus a “friends with benefits” arrangement is cemented whereupon the ripcord is to be pulled on the occasion that either of them develops stronger feelings. This does not last long for soon Adam is cloyingly lobbying for escalation. Emma demurs – not out of disinterest we are told but because she’s intimacy-averse and afraid of a broken heart. Why else would she resist a more permanent attachment to someone like Adam?
Perhaps it’s because Adam as played by Kutcher is about as interesting as cabbage. And yet No Strings Attached would have us believe he’s some kind of floppy-haired Albert Schweitzer. This despite the fact that his greatest aspiration in life is to join the writing staff of a High School Musical-esque television series the shallow inanity of which is one of the film’s recurring jokes. In vain support of his cause the filmmakers decorate Adam’s apartment with various props – vintage posters books about 1920s movies a guitar that is occasionally picked up but never actually played – that hint at a depth that Kutcher himself never manifests.
Still Portman sells us on Adam and Emma’s inevitable union with every ounce of her not inconsiderable talent. (And her comic chops are legit – as those who’ve glimpsed her appearances on SNL and Funny or Die can attest.) But she asks too much. And Elizabeth Meriweather’s script while witty and stocked with some keen observations on the evolving nature of relationships in the modern age becomes weighed down by sentiment unbecoming an R-rated comedy not directed by Judd Apatow. In the end Kutcher seals the increasingly contrived deal with the climactic line “I’m warning you: Come one step closer and I’m never letting you go ” (I’m paraphrasing but not loosely) by which time the film's already lost its grip.

Movie audiences weren't afraid of a little blood and gore this weekend; on the contrary, they were compelled to find out who won the ultimate monster battle.
Freddy vs. Jason, which pits A Nightmare of Elm Street's steely-fingered Freddy against Friday the 13th's machete-wielding Jason, simply slaughtered the box office competition, debuting at No. 1 with a head-splittin' $36.4 million* and shoving last week's headliner, the police-drama S.W.A.T., down to second place with $18.6 million.
Combining the two horror franchises turned out to be a brilliant idea, generating more opening box office dollars than either individual series has seen lately. The last Friday the 13th installment, Jason X, debuted in 2002 at $6.6 million, while the last Elm Street chapter, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, opened in 1994 at $6.6 million as well.
"[Freddy vs. Jason] worked because it's a brand new series. It's an original movie with name recognition," Russell Schwartz, head of domestic marketing for New Line Cinema told The Associated Press. "We took it seriously and didn't turn it into Scary Movie. Not that it doesn't have humor, but we didn't want to go too campy."
Oscar-winning Kevin Costner's western saga Open Range premiered at No. 3 with a respectable $14.1 million, making it the second best opener of Costner's last five movies. Only the romantic Message in a Bottle topped Range's figure when it opened in 1999 at $16.7 million. Other recent Costner vehicles haven't fared as well: Dragonfly took $10.2 million, 3,000 Miles to Graceland $7.1 million, Thirteen Days $46,688 and For Love of the Game $13 million.
The body-switching comedy Freaky Friday took fourth place with $13.1 million, while the girl-powered Uptown Girls debuted in the fifth spot with $11.2 million. Other newcomers this week included the skateboarding laffer Grind, which premiered with a measly $2.6 million, and the underground comic book indie American Splendor, which debuted in limited release and took in $156,000.
Overall, box office grosses were up, up, up this weekend, nearly 4 percent from last weekend and a whopping 34 percent from the same weekend last year.
THE TOP TEN
New Line Cinema's R-rated horror fest Freddy vs. Jason spooked its way to the top spot with an ESTIMATED $36.4 million in 3,014 theaters. Its $12,085 per theater average was the highest of any movie playing wide this week.
Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees leaves the cozy confines of Camp Crystal Lake for Elm Street, where he meets his most dangerous adversary yet--A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger. But this town only has room for one slasher.
Directed by Ronny Yu, it stars Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger.
Sony Pictures' PG-13-rated S.W.A.T. dropped from the top spot to No. 2 in its second week with an ESTIMATED $18.6 million (-50%) in 3,220 theaters (+18 theaters; $5,776 per theater). The film, revolving around a newly trained S.W.A.T. team, has garnered $70 million so far.
Directed by Clark Johnson, it stars Colin Farrell, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J and Michelle Rodriguez.
Buena Vista's R-rated Open Range moseyed into third place in its opening weekend with an ESTIMATED $14.1 million in 2,075 theaters, taking in an average of $6,795 per theater.
In the film, a posse of "freegrazers"--rogue cowboys who drive their own cattle--runs into trouble in prairie town run by a kingpin rancher.
Directed by and starring Kevin Costner, it also stars Robert Duvall, Annette Bening, Diego Luna and Michael Gambon.
Buena Vista's PG-rated Freaky Friday fell a couple of spots to No. 4 in its second week with an ESTIMATED $13.1 million (-41%) in 2,979 theaters (+25 theaters; $4,397 per theater). Its cume is $57.9 million.
Directed by Mark Waters, it stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Chad Michael Murray and Mark Harmon.
*Box office estimates provided by Exhibitor Relations, Inc.
MGM's PG-13-rated Uptown Girls giggled all the way to No. 5 in its premiere weekend with an ESTIMATED $11.2 million in 2,495 theaters ($4,489 per theater).
In this riches-to-rags tale, the daughter of a late rock-and-roll star gets a rude awakening when all her money is embezzled and she has to take a job as the nanny to a very uptight 8-year-old girl.
Directed by Boaz Yakin, it stars Brittany Murphy, Dakota Fanning, Donald Faison, Marley Shelton and Heather Locklear.
Buena Vista Pictures' PG-13-rated fantasy actioner Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl collected more booty, slipping to sixth place in its sixth week of release with an ESTIMATED $8.5 million (-35%) at 2,710 theaters (-460 theaters; $3,137 per theater). Its cume is approximately $247.9 million.
Directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, it stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.
Universal Picture's R-rated comedy American Wedding plummeted four spots to seventh in its third week with an ESTIMATED $8.16 million (-47%) at 2,985 theaters (-210 theaters; $2,735 per theater). Its cume is $80.6 million.
Directed by Jesse Dylan, it stars Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Thomas Ian Nicholas.
Universal Pictures' PG-13-rated drama Seabiscuit fell three notches to No. 8 in its fourth week, taking in an ESTIMATED $8.12 million (-32%) in 2,462 theaters (+34 theaters; $3,300 per theater). Its cume is approximately $83 million.
Directed by Gary Ross, it stars Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges and Chris Cooper as three down-and-out men who find fame and fortune in an equally down-and-out racehorse.
Dimension Films' PG-rated Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over dropped three spots to No. 9 in its fourth week with an ESTIMATED $5.2 million (-46%) in 3,003 theaters (-385 theaters; $1,745 per theater). Its cume is approximately $96.8 million.
Written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, it stars Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Sylvester Stallone, Salma Hayek and Ricardo Montalban.
Sony Picture's R-rated buddy actioner Bad Boys II continued to move down the list to take 10th place in its fifth week with an ESTIMATED $3.2 million (-47%) at 1,785 theaters (-664 theaters; $1,793 per theater). Its cume is approximately $128.8 million.
Directed by Michael Bay, it stars Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jordi Molla, Gabrielle Union and Peter Stormare.
OTHER OPENINGS
Warner Bros.' PG-13-rated Grind opened with an ESTIMATED $2.6 million in 2,253 theaters ($1,161 per theater).
Four free-wheelin', skateboarding buddies head cross-country to try to get into a pro-skateboarding demo tour.
Directed by Casey La Scala, it stars Mike Vogel, Adam Brody, Vince Vieluf, Joey Kern and Jennifer Morrison.
Fine Line's R-rated American Splendor debuted in limited release with an ESTIMATED $156,000 in 6 theaters ($26,000 per theater).
In this true story, hospital administrative clerk Harvey Pekar goes from rags to (relative) riches with his homegrown autobiographical comic book series, American Splendor.
Directed by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, it stars Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis and Harvey Pekar.
WEEKEND COMPARISON
The Top 12 films this weekend grossed an ESTIMATED $132 million, up 33.2 percent from last year's take of $99.1 million. The Top 12 films were also up 3.6 percent from last weekend when they grossed $127.4 million.
Last year's top three included: Sony's PG-13-rated actioner xXx, which stayed in first place its second week in a row with $22.1 million in 3,388 theaters ($6,526 per theater average); Buena Vista's PG-13 rated sci-fi thriller Signs, which held on to second place for two consecutive weeks with $19.3 million at 3,344 theaters ($5,790 per theater average); and Universal Pictures' PG-13-rated Blue Crush which opened in third with $14.1 million in 3,002 theaters ($4,720 per theater).

Bobby Garfield (David Morse) returns to his small hometown to attend the funeral of his childhood friend and remembers the fateful summer in 1960 when his whole world changed. The story flashes back to when 11-year-old Bobby (Anton Yelchin) and his best friends Carol (Mika Boorem) and Sully-John (Will Rothhaar) capture the pure joy of youthfulness. When a mysterious stranger named Ted Brautigan (Anthony Hopkins) moves upstairs and starts to pay attention to Bobby the boy suddenly realizes what's truly missing from his life--the love of a parent. Bobby's mother Liz (Hope Davis) is embittered by the death of Bobby's father and shows little compassion for her son's growing needs. Ted fills a void with the boy opening his eyes to the world around him and helps Bobby come to terms with his real feelings for Carol--and his mother. But Ted also has some deep dark secrets of his own and Bobby tries hard to stop danger from reaching the old man.
The performances make the film especially in the genuine camaraderie of the kids. Yelchin Boorem and Rothhaar never deliver a false move with an easiness that makes us believe we are simply watching three 11-year-old children grow up together. Yelchin in particular is able to get right to the heart of this young boy who misses his father and clings to the only adult who will listen. And his scenes with Boorem simply break your heart. (Davis) does an admirable job playing a part none too sympathetic. She manages to show a woman whose been beaten down but who does truly love her son in her own way. Morse too is one of those character actors you can plug in any movie and get a performance worth noting. In Hearts you want to see more of him. Of course the film shines brightest when Hopkins is on the screen. It may not be an Oscar-caliber performance but the actor is unparalleled in bringing a character to life--showing the subtleties of an old man looking for some peace in his life.
If you are expecting the Stephen King novel you may be disappointed. Screenwriter William Goldman and director Scott Hicks (Shine) deftly extracted the King formula of telling a story through a child's eye and explaining how the relationships formed as a child shaped the adult later. Hicks did an amazing job with his young actors especially Yelchin and Boorem. But where the novel continued into a supernatural theme explaining Brautigan's fear of being captured by "low men in yellow coats" (a reference to King's The Dark Tower series) the movie downplayed the mystical elements instead giving real explanations for Brautigan's man-on-the-run. That was the one problem with Hearts--we needed more danger. Introducing men from another dimension may not have been the way to go but had there been more tension the film would have resonated more especially when Bobby risked his own safety to save Ted.

Now that the major networks have released their fall 2001 schedules, all it takes is a brief glance at the Thursday night brackets to realize this year's hottest rivalry--CBS' Survivor and CSI vs. NBC's Must-See TV lineup--will ignite yet again come October.
CBS appears to be riding a wave of confidence following this season's consistent victory over NBC's Thursday night sitcoms. Survivor scored on average 10 million more viewers than Friends per week, partly due in part to several Friends reruns in March, according to Nielsen Media Research. As a result, the Eye Network is unflinchingly pitting this fall Survivor and CSI against NBC's Friends, Will &amp; Grace, Just Shoot Me and the new sitcom Inside Schwartz.
CBS' decision to keep the Thursday night battle alive has nothing to do with a rivalry with NBC, but has everything to do with constantly improving that night's ratings, said CBS publicist Dana McClintock.
"We're shooting for Thursday nights to not be considered 'bowling night' at CBS, as it's been considered in the past," he said. "We want to increase our viewership on that night--something we've accomplished dramatically this year so far."
In addition to increasing viewership, CBS and NBC are looking to increase advertising revenues this fall. If they can, of course, remains to be seen, but if the spring 2001 advertising payouts are repeated, NBC could find themselves beneath CBS on the revenue-generating totem pole. Ad rates for Friends this spring actually dropped moderately following the February sweeps, which saw Survivor well ahead in the ratings. Conversely, CBS received a cool $12 million apiece from each of its nine core sponsors, including, Bud Light, Cingular, Doritos, Mountain Dew, Pontiac Aztek, Target and Visa.
CBS' McClintock understands the need to increase the network's Thursday night bottom line, pointing out that-despite the sheer entertainment value of its shows-in the end, money matters.
"[Thursday's] a crucial night financially," McClintock said. "We've increased viewership in our key demographic on Thursdays by triple, so we're excited not only about Survivor and CSI next fall, but also the new drama The Agency, which will follow those shows at 10 p.m."
And herein lies NBC's ace in the hole: the 10 p.m. slot. ER continues to be a ratings juggernaut-the highest-rated drama on TV-balancing out the CBS-NBC rivalry this spring.
"While Survivor certainly has helped improve CBS' ratings, NBC continues to dominate Thursday nights," NBC spokesman Mike Nelson said.
While both networks sound clearly confident in their Thursday night lineups this fall, a hidden threat does exist to both: Fox's Temptation Island 2, which will air Thursdays at 9 p.m., against CBS' CSI and NBC's Will &amp; Grace and Just Shoot Me. Witnessing the success a reality show has had against NBC's Must-See TV gang, Fox president of entertainment Gail Berman told The Hollywood Reporter that it's time for her network to get aggressive. Fox attracted only 3.9 million viewers on Thursday nights.
"We're going to be bold," she said.